Mangala, 1950

The late 40’s was marked in Bollywood with the remake of several super hits movies from south, especially from Tamil. The 1950 hit Mangala, produced by Gemini Pictures, was one such movie which was originally made in Tamil by the title Mangamma Sapatham. S.S. Vasan was the director of the Hindi version. In Tamil the lead pairs were Ranjan and Vasundhara Devi (mother of Vyjayanthimala). In Hindi version Vasundhara was replaced by the Tamil actress P. Bhanumathi.

The songs and dance sequences were all hits of that time. Music was composed by Partha Sarathi, Kalla and Shankar Shastri. Two songs from this film were inspired by the famous brazilian dancer Carmen Miranda’s classics. The song Ma ma ma ma ma mummy was based on Carmen Miranda’s Mama yo quiero and Aaiya mein tou mari laaj sai in which Bhanumathi is dressed like Carmen, was based on “I Yi Yi Yi Yi — I Like You Very Much” from That Night in Rio (1941).